Sitting Down with Dutch Royals Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima

Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, and his wife, Princess Máxima of the Netherlands. Photograph by Chantal Heijnen.

Being a prince or princess isn't all tiaras and Tatler. In fact, it's a stage you can't exit. "You’re in this function and with this responsibility 365 days a year," the Dutch throne’s heir apparent, Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, told VF Daily’s Royal Watch.

"Twenty-four hours a day," emphasized his wife, Princess Máxima.

Maintaining a sane work-life balance isn’t a cinch for anyone, let alone Willem-Alexander and Máxima, who are your average working parents—they just happen to hold the job titles of prince and princess. This was one of our revelations when we recently caught up with the royals as they were, err, holding court in New York City’s Battery Gardens Restaurant, having just unveiled the New Amsterdam Plein and Pavilion. They were in New York as part of their week-long visit celebrating 400 years of Dutch-American relations, a bond that began with Henry Hudson's arrival in New York, and continues today with American and Dutch soldiers serving together in Afghanistan. After waiting for various news crews to clear the restaurant, we were invited to join the Dutch duo (unfortunately our enterance wasn't met with a 21-gun salute and greeting by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, like the Prince and Princess's arrival to New York had been), where we chatted about what it means to be a young royal couple in the 21st century.The Prince, 42, and Princess, 38, each have approximately 110 public engagements annually, ranging from [I.O.C. member](">ribbon-cutting ceremonies, to meetings with the International Olympic Committee Congress (the Prince is an Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. She delivered her first speech in that capacity to the Clinton Global Initiative Finance Dinner last Thursday, addressing ways to make credit and savings more accessible for impoverished populations. The Prince’s passion is water. He chairs the U.N. Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, which looks to tackle global poverty by promoting access to clean water and sanitation.

At home, the royal couple has three daughters: Catharina-Amalia, five; Alexia, four; and Ariane, two. Máxima and Willem-Alexander make it a point to find time for the little princesses. “Sometimes it just means flying from Bogota to New York via Amsterdam to have a day with your kids,” the Prince says. “When we spend time with them, I think we do our utmost best to be really with them—on vacations or during weekends or even at breakfast in the morning. They go to just an ordinary public school, and they have ordinary lives as many of their friends of the same age.” And though this creates a demanding parental schedule, neither Máxima nor Willem-Alexander would have it any other way. “One has to divide attention between having kids and a full workload,” the Princess says. “I don’t think I would be able to do it otherwise, and I don’t want to speak for my husband, but I think he wouldn’t be able to do it otherwise.”

Both Máxima and Willem-Alexander want to keep their children out of the public eye as much as possible for the time being—in fact, earlier this year, they brought a lawsuit against the Associated Press for taking unauthorized photos of the family during a ski vacation. “My parents [Queen Beatrix and the late Prince Claus] had always kept us away from public life until university, actually,” Willem-Alexander says. “It was only very rare occasions we were sort of put out in the open, and in that sense I think we had a normal childhood.” Normalcy now is important, the Prince points out, since his children may choose to take on royal responsibilities later in life. This is especially true for his eldest daughter, Catharina-Amalia, who is second in line to the throne after her father. “If she has a public duty in the future and doesn’t have a normal childhood, then it would be almost impossible for her to get to know herself,” the Prince said. “It’s much better that you get that chance to develop yourself before you go into public life.”

"That's why I'm glad I found a normal woman to marry," the Prince continued. A skeptical look from his wife caused him to correct himself, laughing, "I mean, an extraordinary woman that can keep me down to earth."

So, is the key to being a down-to-earth royal keeping your professional and family lives completely separate?

Máxima dismissed the over-simplified notion. “Everything is enrichment. I hope that I can be a better princess because I am a mother,” she said. “I hope that I can become a better advocate for microfinance because now I understand women have to put meals every evening on the tables.”

But the fact that they are royals doesn’t mean the Prince and Princess cannot cultivate their own interests and hobbies. Though she is not an official spokesperson for Dutch design, Princess Máxima, whose outfits during her New York visit struck a balance between tasteful and daring, pointed out that Holland is experiencing a real moment in the fashion world, from Viktor & Rolf to Spijkers en Spijkers. As Máxima put it, "Holland is not only about the tulips and the Delftware!"

As for the Prince, a military-trained pilot who holds the rank of commodore in the Royal Netherlands Air Force, he finds that being behind the controls of an airplane makes him forget about his royal title. “You have that full responsibility of flying that plane with 100-and-something passengers,” he says. “It gives you a clear mind.” Ah, so normal, but so elevated. In fact, perhaps that’s the best way to sum up the Dutch royal couple altogether.